Alpha THE BEST GM GAME EVER MADE? 100+ POSTS! POOL'S CLOSED! THANKS FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION, EVERYONE! :)

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my god, whoever the artist is for this project is extremely talented
Thanks, Trueno! =)
The art is just omg...
You too, R34L! ^ ^
The "wisdom and clarity" are clearly evident in this game! You're wise enough to make such a great (looking - no gameplay yet xP) game and use a #TotallyNotClickbaitTitle xP
Totally not clickbait, at all! X'D


Don't take that seriously :p I like the chest animation in particular, very tactile.
Thanks, Ninety. I'm going to file your graph under "fan-art," hahah. :p
Special shout-out to @Lukan and aamat, my two good friends who, out of the 50+ posts in this thread, could only find the time to like the one that was poking fun at me. Love you guys, too.
Jerks. :p
Yeah. I'm looking forward to seeing character animations.
Shhhhh.
They're the first things I worked on, over two years ago. They've never been updated.
They're terrible.
I'll update them soon, I promise! X'D

Thanks for the kind words and the jokes, guys. I have a long shift today, but I'll try to post an update tomorrow. =D
 
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Hey all! Quick update! Special thanks to @Lukan for reminding me I had rain to show you guys. (Honorable mention to @Ninety, since he's the artist on that game.)I tried recording it before, but it didn't work. But today, youtube decided to cooperate for whatever reason, so we've lucked out! Please watch it on youtube, or you won't be able to see the detail. The YouTube video doesn't do it justice, unfortunately (so blurry), but if you set it to HD, you can get the idea, at least. Still need to animate the trees, add some more splashes, and do a few other things, so this is still highly WIP, but I like how it's looking so far. I hope you do, too! =D
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Nice rain, I think! I'm pretty proud of it! ^ ^

There we go. Small update for now, but I hope you all like it. I'll post more soon! ^ ^
 
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Nice man, the rain looks good. Pretty realistic.
Thanks! ^ ^

The rain is super nice in-game; the video blurs it so much. You can usually see waves in the water patterns. Some shader magic going on in that scene! It's too bad YouTube is terrible at showing so much movement on the screen. X'D
 
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Ninety

Member
Pretty nice, although I will say that the flickering pattern on the right side of each tree looks a bit odd (possibly the doing of YouTube, I don't know).

Also apparently it's Rain Day in the WIP subforum
 
Thanks Ninety! Yeah, the video is dropping some frames. I noticed it too. That's actually my slow pc trying to record video rather than YouTube, though. Your thread is what actually reminded me I'd been wanting to show this, actually; your rain is looking pretty nice, too! ^ ^

Maybe we'll start a trend of rainy games in the WIP section, haha! XD
 
Sorry for taking a few days to respond, guys. Didn't want to bump my thread without an update, hahah.
Thanks, @cidwel. Glad my game has motivated you a little. There needs to be more games like SoM, so I'll look forward to seeing yours, too! ^ ^
@Morumotto, thanks! Hope you like the new update today, too. =D
@seanm, thank you too. I'm trying, hahah. X'D

Anyways! Time for a big update! A few new areas, a new monster, and my first publicly shown piece of music! Hope you guys like this new stuff! =D
First off, we have a new area, The Forest of Rot. A noxious fog rolls through the whole area, weakening the player character, and slowing movement speed. Far off, you hear the unsettling howls of strange creatures. A trail of blood leads into the forest, toward the source of the unnatural animal calls:

Spooky, spooky. =D
Listen to the area's new song to complete the effect. Listen to it at half volume, because it's loud because I don't know what I'm doing and exported at twice the volume I meant to:


Next up, we have a new enemy. A powerful lich in simple, tattered robes, hovering above the ground, and wielding a mighty scythe which he spins and throws with ease. Because he is a wizard, and also a skeleton. (He's a natural!) He has some strong magic spells, too, so look out! He prowls the basement of old, derelict castles:

Also spooky.


Bonus "holy 💩💩💩💩, he's angry or something!" animation, lol. Just experimenting with this one, don't have any plans on using it in game right now, but I might make use of something like it.

And lastly, something a bit more colorful and happy. Experimenting with a cleaner, bolder style for this area:

Ruined gardens in the sky! Something a little more exotic than most of the stuff I've shown so far, I think. I have a lot of weird areas planned for later on, too...

Also, I animated the trees for the rain scene. I think it really adds to the scene! Maybe I'll take the time to screen capture it if anyone is interested, but it's a small change, so I dunno.
So, yeah! Hope you guys like the new stuff! Thanks again for your support, everyone! =D
 
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Cpaz

Member
Sorry for taking a few days to respond, guys. Didn't want to bump my thread without an update, hahah.
Thanks, @cidwel. Glad my game has motivated you a little. There needs to be more games like SoM, so I'll look forward to seeing yours, too! ^ ^
@Morumotto, thanks! Hope you like the new update today, too. =D
@seanm, thank you too. I'm trying, hahah. X'D

Anyways! Time for a big update! A few new areas, a new monster, and my first publicly shown piece of music! Hope you guys like this new stuff! =D
First off, we have a new area, The Forest of Rot. A noxious fog rolls through the whole area, weakening the player character, and slowing movement speed. Far off, you hear the unsettling howls of strange creatures. A trail of blood leads into the forest, toward the source of the unnatural animal calls:

Spooky, spooky. =D
Listen to the area's new song to complete the effect. Listen to it at half volume, because it's loud because I don't know what I'm doing and exported at twice the volume I meant to:
https://soundcloud.com/james1012yahoo/forest-of-rot

Next up, we have a new enemy. A powerful lich in simple, tattered robes, hovering above the ground, and wielding a mighty scythe which he spins and throws with ease. Because he is a wizard, and also a skeleton. (He's a natural!) He has some strong magic spells, too, so look out! He prowls the basement of old, derelict castles:

Also spooky.


Bonus "holy ****, he's angry or something!" animation, lol. Just experimenting with this one, don't have any plans on using it in game right now, but I might make use of something like it.

And lastly, something a bit more colorful and happy. Experimenting with a cleaner, bolder style for this area:

Ruined gardens in the sky! Something a little more exotic than most of the stuff I've shown so far, I think. I have a lot of weird areas planned for later on, too...

Also, I animated the trees for the rain scene. I think it really adds to the scene! Maybe I'll take the time to screen capture it if anyone is interested, but it's a small change, so I dunno.
So, yeah! Hope you guys like the new stuff! Thanks again for your support, everyone! =D
2 spookies 4 me.
 
Thansks, @seanm. Do you mean the clipping? In that case, it's already fixed...like I said, I exported it at twice the volume I wanted it to be at, which is where it's coming from. I'm playing the music through a classic 90s rack module (because this WILL be an authentic SNES experience, God damnit! ;D ), and recording it "live" with Audacity. For some reason, when recorded, the music plays at half volume inside Audacity, so I cranked the gain to "fix" that. Now that I know about that Audacity quirk, though, I just record at normal volume, and export without messing with the gain. No distortion! =D

That aside, did you like the actual piece? Were you sufficiently spooked? I'm learning as I go along. This is my first piece for the game, hahah! X'D
 
Ah, sorry to hear that. Hopefully you get spooked out a bit more during the actual game. ):
I probably won't be changing what I've completed and shown of the song so far, but I do plan on expanding on it to make it a bit longer. It'll be an A,A,B loop when it's finished, so maybe you'll like it more then.

About your edit, I really do appreciate it, but I'm sorry to say it's doing absolutely nothing for me. I honestly think you removed a lot of the tension from the song, and the theremin-like instrument and knocking noises you added make it feel a bit cartoony to me. I feel bad saying it, since you were (super) nice enough to take time out of your day for me, but I can't agree with this edit. :x

Again, thank you very much, though. It's flattering that you took the time to help me, and it was an interesting edit, even if I didn't agree with it. Cheers, sean. ^ ^

PS: How have you been?! It's been awhile since we last talked! Good to hear from you again!
 
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seanm

Guest
nah I get it man, just made it in a couple of minutes. Was just suggesting the current piece is a bit dull and wanted to throw together something with a bit more ambiance. Do what you want.

e:Also it wasn't an edit. I just made something with a low piano hit. Wasnt the same song at all

e2: and ive been good. just making some html5 games pretty much.
 
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nah I get it man, just made it in a couple of minutes. Was just suggesting the current piece is a bit dull and wanted to throw together something with a bit more ambiance. Do what you want.
Fair enough. Again, I do appreciate the edit. =)
e:Also it wasn't an edit. I just made something with a low piano hit. Wasnt the same song at all
Well, yeah. It's obvious it's not the same song. I think it's also obvious you made it with with the aim of keeping the general feel and structure of mine in-tact, though. I think it's fair to call it an edit, but you can call it a "remake" or "demo" or whatever, if you want. No arguments, there. X'D
e2: and ive been good. just making some html5 games pretty much.
Oh yeah, stupid me. I still need to give you a better review of your tank game. I was having a lot of fun with that! Have you posted any threads here on the GMC? I'll give you a review there, if you have. If not, I'll PM my thoughts to you later or whatever. Sorry I didn't get back to you about the game the other day. I meant to play it some more after work, but ended up crashing in bed as soon as I got home that night. I'll play it again soon, though! =D
 
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Paul Levasseur

Guest
I love the sounds from the rack synths you have. It is definitely audible to me that they were the source material that was used for creating SNES soundsets. If you want it to truly sound 16bit, you'll have to downsample things but maybe you'd like it to sound smoother and brighter like in that WIP you just posted?

I think that musically, you have a good idea. The challenge is going to be to determine where the music 'should' go or where it 'wants to go'. The temptation is to loop the idea you have with subtle variation but it's a bit of an 'easy way out' and the music suffers as a result. I'm not sure I agree with sean's assessment for a couple of reasons. 1) It is impossible to know where music will end up based on a 30 second or 1 minute snippet. Especially with slow moving and ambient music, it will be easy to write 5 - 6 minutes to come up with a form so that the music can 'refresh' itself and avoid outstaying it's welcome. 2) As the game designer, you know best what sort of music fits the mood you want.
I don't think 'adding more stuff' is the solution. It's like cooking and thinking 'These flavours are slightly off so let's just add MOAR SPICES'. Arvo Part is a master of writing very 'economical' music whereas Stravinsky is great at stuffing a piece until it literally explodes out of the orchestra. The trick with keeping music interesting is to set up an expectation and to eventually thwart that expectation in a clever way. You can do so many little nudges here and there with harmony and register, and then you can probably get a bit of mileage out of what you are writing.
It would be difficult for me to provide a constructive edit since your project is so heavily dependent on the sounds you are using. i.e. the timbral quality of the synth patches are of equal or more importance than the pitches that you are selecting. But I can try and advise you on things to try at various points. Most likely a conversation for twitter DM! HAHA!

I love your art and I'm really looking forward to seeing and hearing what you come up with.

P.S. Here's something similar that I did. I know you are familiar with it already but my point to sean is that simple is not always bad. This is very sparse but I think it definitely evokes a mood, which is absolutely necessary in a game.
 
Thanks, Paul. Have to agree with basically everything you've said here. And yes, your piece is a good example of the kind of direction I'll be expanding mine into, as soon as hone my ears a bit more. A nice slow burning piece that gradually builds up the tension is what I need here, not necessarily more complexity. Your cooking analogy is apt: some of the best dishes are made by chefs who work with few ingredients, but know exactly what they want to do with them, and execute flawlessly. Like you said, music is the same way. I think it's crazy to measure a composition by how many notes it has. I listened to a single recorder playing Bach for almost twenty minutes yesterday, and there was nothing to complain about. Which is why I'll be doing some heavy training the next few weeks. I have a few things I want to do musically. Hopefully things pan out! =)

For the piece I posted, the plan is to actually to compose it in short loops like the one above, and then have them loop until the next set piece is reached, gradually becoming more and more tense and disturbing, until the thing you're hunting for finally makes it's appearance. I think it'll be pretty great when all the moving parts come together! =D

Anyway, thanks for the post, Paul. Insightful as always!
 

Ninety

Member
The difference between Paul's piece and RHC's is that, in my opinion, RHC's lacks subtlety. If you're trying to make something genuinely unnerving, perhaps you could incorporate some more quiet melody in the buildup. Right now it seems to be trying very hard to be "unnerving" by going for the classic low piano notes, but it lacks genuine creepiness, IMO. It also lacks the subtlety of production that might set it apart from generic horror fare.

Just my two cents. It's not bad, really.

@Paul Levasseur: Good musical critique is hard to come by... points for being constructive. :)
 
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Yal

🐧 *penguin noises*
GMC Elder
upload_2016-7-8_17-2-33.png
I prefer this cloud, btw. It feels more 'defined' than the other one (which is pretty good in pixel graphics, trying to make pixel stuff blurry or vague isn't taking advantage of its strong sides), and it also feels like it'd be less work spriting them. Plus, I prefer fluffy clouds over misty clouds because they're so round and squishy-looking ^__^
 
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Paul Levasseur

Guest
The difference between Paul's piece and RHC's is that, in my opinion, RHC's lacks subtlety. If you're trying to make something genuinely unnerving, perhaps you could incorporate some more quiet melody in the buildup. Right now it seems to be trying very hard to be "unnerving" by going for the classic low piano notes, but it lacks genuine creepiness, IMO. It also lacks the subtlety of production that might set it apart from generic horror fare.

Just my two cents. It's not bad, really.

@Paul Levasseur: Good musical critique is hard to come by... points for being constructive. :)
I actually thought his harmonies were more interesting than what I hear from most who are just starting out with their writing. I also love his sounds he's using, but he won't tell me what rack modules he has. Whenever I ask him, he ignores me or conveniently changes the subject :p
 
I actually thought his harmonies were more interesting than what I hear from most who are just starting out with their writing. I also love his sounds he's using, but he won't tell me what rack modules he has. Whenever I ask him, he ignores me or conveniently changes the subject :p
I didn't think it was too bad for my first song, either. =)

And sorry, I meant to say "not telling, lol," to you awhile ago. It took me a month of research and like ten back and forth Japanese emails to learn the secret of Squaresoft's old music. I am shamelessly guarding this well-won secret, hahah. Sorry, Paul! X'D
 
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Paul Levasseur

Guest
What? You mean the internet doesn't have this information available already? I'm SURE some audio nerds would have figured it out by now =-p
 
What? You mean the internet doesn't have this information available already? I'm SURE some audio nerds would have figured it out by now =-p
You would think, right? Good luck finding the info out there, though! I couldn't find it anywhere on the English internet. I found lots of people asking, but no good answers, haha! I was surprised, too. I found out what Illusion of Gaia was using, too, so that's next on my purchase list. =D

I wanted to learn assembler for the SNES, too. You would think there would be tons of information for programming the best system ever made, too, right? Nope! Barely any information anywhere, and the homebrew scene is tiny. I guess our heroes who made these games twenty years ago were simply professionals doing their job - it looks like they didn't care much about saving or distributing information about how they got things done back then at all, unfortunately. ):

I'll check around the Japanese net sooner or later for SNES programming advice, too, but that'll be awhile from now. I think I'll need pretty strong Japanese for any programming advice to be useful for me.

Also, thanks for the vote, @Yal. I agree with you, and will be going in that direction. =)

@RujiK: Pocky and Rocky is one of my favorite games ever. I didn't look at its second level in paricular, but I have studied the game as a whole many times. Beautiful art, there. I was actually thinking of taking a closer look at it for my forest, because it isn't reading as well as I'd like. They did a really good job with that game. =)
 
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Morumotto

Guest
SD2 & 3 were great fun! I appreciate all the updates you're sharing! I just want to play so badly :(

I forget if this was mentioned earlier in this thread, but do you have any ideas about music and sound effects? If so what is your plan for these? :)
 
Thanks @Morumotto! I want to finish this game and have you play it too, believe me, haha! XD

About the sound and music: I'm doing all the sound effects myself, and haven't had any real trouble with them, which is good! Music I'm still learning. I linked to the first song I wrote in the last update post. :)
 
Game looks great so far!
I feel like some pixel art could use some touching up though (like no idle animation when she is facing away from the camera

edit: dangit. I tried to put effort into my reply and I got boned XD
 
From the front page:

Thank you to everyone who participated in this thread. We made it to a hundred posts! I hope you all enjoyed this small preview of my game. Now, It's time for me to buckle down and begin working earnestly again. In a few months, I'll (hopefully) launch my Kickstarter, and will report back here with a big update. For now, this thread has been cleared of content; because I won't be here for the next few months, I think it's best to let this thread peacefully rest for now.

To show my appreciation, everyone who took the time to post their kind comments here will receive a free [Steam Key] when the game releases. Once again, thanks everyone. Your comments mean a lot to me.

See you all again soon!

Humayun included. Thanks for the kind comment. I'll try my best. =)

With that, pool's closed. Everyone out! ;P
See you guys in a few months! =)
 
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